Over the last 20 years, Qatar Airways has undergone a remarkable transformation. Backed by tiny Qatar’s government riches, the airline has added routes to every populated continent, soaring from the 90th-largest international carrier to the 10th. Its prices on flights to Washington, New York, Miami and Dallas are cheap enough to pose a major challenge for U.S. carriers, who are trying to fight back.
But there’s just one problem with an airline that says it has one of the “most modern” fleets in the skies: Qatar’s flight attendants live under rules of an earlier decade. A much earlier decade, such as one without international labor standards or women’s rights.
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a major trade union group, female flight attendants can only be hired by Qatar Airways if they’re single. They must remain so for five years after starting work. If they want to marry, they have to ask the airline’s permission. If and when they get pregnant, they must notify the airline as soon as they know. Pregnancy is a breach of contract and can lead to firing.
In this case, getting fired often means deportation: Some 90 percent of Qatar’s staff are from other countries, allowed to live in Doha because of their jobs.
Clearly, the evolution of the flight attendant isn’t complete. In fact, depending on where in the world you live or fly, you might think the evolution hasn’t started at all. Though Qatar’s restrictions rank among the most severe, other airlines still maintain practices that might have felt more familiar to Pan Am travelers of the 1960s.
In much of Asia, airliners use majority-female — and young — cabin crews, and their roles fall somewhere between cheerleaders and brand beauty symbols. China Southern Airlines holds an annual, televised American Idol-style competition for its potential female crew that includes a swimsuit pageant. VietJet, a Vietnamese low-cost carrier, three years ago held a bikini contest of its own — while on board a flight.
The women of Asiana Airlines, headquartered in Seoul, face guidelines for nail length, makeup color and hairstyle — a bun with two bobby pins max, if you were curious. Only two years ago, after some complaints by South Korea’s national human rights commission, were the Asiana flight attendants freed from a skirts-only dress code.
Then there are the women of Singapore Airlines, whom the airline describes as “Singapore Girls.” They wear designer sarongs and are the “epitome of Asian grace and hospitality.”
For American travelers, this might feel pretty backward. But it wasn’t always the case.
According to the book “Working the Skies,” by Drew Whitelegg, U.S. stewardesses of the 1960s faced a no-marriage rule and age restrictions. The average job tenure was about two years. As airlines grappled for market share, the stewardesses became, as Whitelegg calls them, “sex objects in the sky.” On international flights, TWA had its flight attendants dress up in the costumes of the countries to which it was flying — think togas and Olde English costumes. Braniff, a big carrier at the time, gave its flight attendants eye-catching outfits and ran a print ad saying: “Does your wife know you’re flying with us?”
More recently, overt sexism is far more unusual. The greatest exception to that is in the Gulf, said Gabriel Mocho, civil aviation secretary at the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
“The treatment of workers at Qatar Airways goes further than cultural differences,” Mocho said. “They are the worst for women’s rights among airlines.”
Qatar Airways on Friday did not respond requests for comment, but its chief executive, Akbar al-Baker, has in the past defended the airlines policies, saying that the terms of employment are clearly stated, and that “mature” individuals who accept them shouldn’t complain.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
